Twilight Zone: The Miami Heat Are The Kobe-Era Lakers And It’s Really Freaking Me Out

Sometimes there’s a glitch in the Matrix, and you don’t realize it until some guy on Reddit writes a frighteningly thorough post detailing it. That’s exactly what Reddit user dmc15 did today, explaining that there are a number of coincidences between the post-Shaq Los Angeles Lakers and the post-Shaq Miami Heat, to the point that what happens each season aligns almost perfectly.

Here’s a look at what he came up with:

So it seems that we’re working with a three-year lag in the Matrix here. The oddest part seems to be that not only are the outcomes of the playoff series almost identical, but the teams that they faced are too. The 2008 Celtics and the 2011 Mavericks are very comparable teams, as are the 2009 Magic and the 2012 Thunder.

In 2010, the Lakers made it to the NBA Finals for the third straight season, playing a team that had already won a championship with their existing core group of players: the Celtics. That is, of course, the same situation that the Heat are in today, as they face a San Antonio Spurs team that has already won with Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, and Tim Duncan. In 2010, as the Reddit post points out, the Lakers went down 3-2 only to win the next game and force a Game 7 on their home court. The Heat have just done the same.

The Lakers won that series. If the Heat do the same, the world might explode. Be careful out there, everyone.